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Erik Malmqvist

Professor

Philosophy and Logic unit
Telephone
+46 31-786 56 52
+46 766-18 56 52
Mail
erik.malmqvist@gu.se
Visiting address
Renströmsgatan 6
41255 Göteborg
Postal address
Box 200
40530 Göteborg

About Erik Malmqvist

I am a professor of practical philosophy. Before joining the University of Gothenburg (as a senior lecturer) in 2018, I was a lecturer/senior lecturer at Linköping University (2012-2018) and a postdoc at Université Paris Descartes (2010-2012) and Karolinska Institutet (2009-2010). I completed my PhD at Linköping University in 2008 on a dissertation on the ethics of selective reproduction.

Research My main research areas are political philosophy and applied ethics. Most of my current work engages with two broad topics: exploitation and social inequality. I combine theory development with normative analyses of exploitation and inequality on the labor market and in healthcare, public health, and medical research.

Questions addressed by my research include:

  • What does it mean to exploit a person? And what (if anything) makes exploitation morally wrong?
  • Are gig workers (such as ride-hail drivers and food delivery riders) exploited? If so, what should be done to prevent or mitigate this form of exploitation?
  • What makes the price of medicines fair? How should pricing models take the interests of future patients into account to ensure fair access to medicines over time?

Research projects and collaborations I am currently the PI for the project ”How exploitation harms” (funded by Riksbankens Jubileumsfond 2024-2026) and a participating researcher in the project ”Just pricing of pharmaceuticals – JUPP” (PI: Niklas Juth, Uppsala University, funded by the Swedish Research Council 2025-2027).

I lead the ethics track in the University of Gothenburg Center for Interdisciplinary Return-to-Work Studies in Primary Care, Ugot-ReWork. I am also a member of the Centre for Antibiotic Resistance Research in Gothenburg, CARe.

Teaching and outreach I teach ethics on different educational programs, including the Medical Program, and act as an ethics expert for public agencies.